They told me not to go into the room—my friends, parents and people at church. But my curiosity was strong, and it did not seem like a big deal. As I entered, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was palpable and thick. You could almost feel it come into your nose and slide down your airways. It made me retch as it hit me like a wall. As I took a step, I slipped on a brown viscous fluid that covered the floor of the room. I immediately recognized it as the source of the smell, but it was too late to leave. The door had shut behind me, and there was no knob or mechanism to open it.
When I got to my feet, I noticed a yellow light illuminating a large mass in the center of the large room. There seemed to be a crowd of people standing around it fascinated by whatever it was. I walked closer to the light and saw that the pile was the brown of rotten fruit similar to the liquid that splashed at my feet. The smell grew in intensity, and my eyes watered. Wiping my eyes, the mound came into focus. It seethed with millions of larva from the flies that hummed just overhead. It had a moist sheen of something wet as the larva undulated under the surface. There were gelatinous green chunks throughout the pile of stench. It was the most disgusting sight of my life, and at that thought, I doubled over and heaved uncontrollably.
Seemingly signaled by the noise of my sickness, the people that had been standing in a trance-like state wearing black robes moved toward the brown mass. Some kneeled as they approached, touching it with their hands. Some rolled in it covering themselves. Others began eating it as fast as they could. To my horror, they all enjoyed it like there was nothing more important than that brown oatmeal-like substance piled high in the room.
Then, the laughter came from somewhere in the room just outside the ring of light. It was a deep chuckle at first. It grew the more that the people enjoyed the nasty filth. I could hear it coming closer. Then, he stepped into the dim light. It was Satan—the serpent of old, the father of lies (Rev. 12:9; John 8:44). When he saw me, he changed and appeared as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). His words were smooth, and as he spoke, that disgusting blob did not seem that bad. The smell subsided and became pleasant. My mouth watered, and I longed to fill my stomach with that sweet-smelling delight before me (Phil. 3:18-19).
This is how sin works (James 1:13-15). Sin is ugly and disgusting. Christ died to raise us out of the pit and mire of sin. Satan desires to lure us back to eat again of that sin and laugh at you. See sin for what it is and embrace the power of the gospel. Wake others out of the trace that Satan holds them in.